When standing up for your principles has caused you to be $10,000 in debt and without a job, it sounds like time to back down and give up. But for Samuel Masih it was the start of a journey of commitment to helping poor people.

In 1986 Samuel took the decision to leave the craft organisation that he worked for, as he believed its producers were not being treated as fairly as he would like. Financially, this move cost him dearly, as he had to inherit some of the debts from his employer. Undeterred, he took his first steps into an alternative way of trading with local craftspeople around his hometown of Moradabad, northern India. From the beginning he was determined to ensure that artisans would be provided with the best rates available and with the support to enable them to be freed from the grip of exploitation.

The journey has been long and hard. Of those early days Samuel says, ‘My wife is a teacher and during those years I even paid salaries to my workers from her savings. They were hard days, but I never lost my hope and trust in God.’